Ukraine: Best Players Summoned for National Championships

The Ukrainian Championship has started in Lviv today. The round-robin of 12 participants includes eight players of the national top 10.

Out of this list, everyone except Fedorchuk is present in Lviv now, including Vassily Ivanchuk, who is fighting for the national championship for the first time in the latest 10 years, and the incumbent champion Yuriy Krivoruchko. The remaining participants are Stanislav Bogdanovich, Alexander Kovchan, Alexander Zubarev and Alexander Zubov. Kuzubov, Zubov and Zubarev represent a kind of the Ukrainian 'trident' ('zub' stands for 'a tooth' or 'a dent' in Russian - CN).

Besides, the women's Ukrainian Championship will also start at the same venue soon; round 1 will be played after tomorrow, so that the championships could come to an end simultaneously. The field of the 9-rounds round robin is impressive too: both Muzychuk sisters, Mariya and Anna, will be present, as well as Anna Ushenina and Natalia Zhukova.

The Muzychuk sisters are two top female Ukrainian players, according to the current FIDE rating list

According to the information provided by the Ukrainian Chess Federation, the 2012 Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina hasn't shown up for her round 2 game of the Ukrainian Women's Championship which is taking place in Lviv simultaneously with the men's event.

Ukraine has voted for the best chess players of the year for the 10th time. Anton Korobov and Anna Ushenina won the the prize "Chess Hetman 2012." As you know GM Korobov won the Ukrainian championship, Ushenina became the world champion.

The voting was held among Ukrainian chess players, journalists, coaches and experts. By the way, Anton Korobov surpassed Vassily Ivanchuk who eventually became second.

World Junior Championships under 20 are coming to an end today in Pune, India. The champions are already known: Lu Shanglei (China) won the gold in the Open championship with 10/13, while Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia) totally dominated the Girls championship with 11 out of 13 which is one point and a half ahead of the nearest rivals.

We are presenting a photo report based on the pictures by IA Ilgar Bajarani and WIM Elena Boric who were in Pune during the championships.